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Running
Out Of Time, Money, And Independence?

Michael
Ogg

About
the Author: Michael Ogg (ogg.michael@gmail.com) is a retired
physics professor who lives in West Windsor, New Jersey.

In
a talk in Washington, DC, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius talked about Michael Ogg as exhibit A for why we need
Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS),
part of the new Affordable Care Act (ACA). Listen to the podcast (click here).

Abstract:
A professor forced into retirement by a severe disability finds his personal
care assistants essential. But he may not be able to afford their help much
longer—and he faces going on Medicaid and possibly becoming
institutionalized.

Article:
It's 9:28 p.m. Serge punches the code into the digital lock and enters my front
door, just as he does every night, seven days a week, asking the same question
in his Haitian-accented French about how my day has been: Comment
était votre journée? Serge has a formality that's a bit remote yet
friendly: Neither of us seems sure whether to use the formal pronoun vous or
the more familiar tu. He reaches for my phone and pushes the preprogrammed
number, accessing his agency's automated time clock and recording his arrival
time. Serge's duty hours technically start at 9:30, but he always comes precisely at
9:28.

Serge's
arrival interrupts whatever I'm doing—reading a book, listening to music,
talking with friends—and I must always be home when he arrives. I resent these
constraints and intrusions. This rigid schedule precludes spontaneity or
unpredictability in my evening activities. Yet I have no choice: I need his
help. (click here to read the complete article from
HealthAffairs website)